crossfit 852

The GuavaPass HK team started the year with a bang and crushed January’s #Guava18 Challenge. Between Alex and myself (Toni), we attended over 25 different studios and thought we’d take this opportunity to do a quick review of all these fantastic classes!

We hope to give you a little insight into the range of classes offered on GuavaPass, and that reading about them might inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and give them a go!

See you in class! — Team GuavaPass HK

The warm-up exercises involved the use of resistance bands for “crab walks” and body weight squats. The WOD (“workout of the day”) then consisted of 10 minutes of Back Squats at 65lbs (doing 10 reps every 2 minutes), followed by 20 minutes of Overhead Kettlebell Swings, Box Jump Overs and Press Pushes. Starting round begins at 3 reps, and each round increases by another 3 reps of each activity (3, 6, 9, 12 etc.) until the time is up! If you don’t pace yourself during the workout, you could find yourself taking frequent rests. I ended up completing 6 rounds at 18 and finished with an additional 3 box jump overs on round 7 (21 reps).

Difficulty level

(rank from 1 to 5 – with 5 being the hardest)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s tough! It also depends on how hard you push yourself to get through the rounds quickly, and how heavy your weights are. Your body is guaranteed to be sore the next day! My face is a good indicator when gauging a workout’s intensity. It varies from a normal to a blush to almost purple depending on how much sweat and energy I’ve exerted! And when you feel a tad sick at the end – you know it was TOUGH!

The best bit

I was super lucky to have my own private class with Mayara – who is awesome! I always have a love/hate relationship in weights classes generally so I really do appreciate the instructors’ dedication to really push you even though you’re in agony.

It is exactly what it says it is. A HIT class in 45 minutes whereby half the class is run (pun intended!) on Green Jog treadmills and the other half is floorwork with weights. For this workout, our running portion consisted of sprint intervals and endurance running at different resistance levels. As this class was for “arms and abs” – we did lots of bicep curls, tricep dips, bench presses, planks and more!

This class can get competitive! Especially when you know there’s one girl in there who’s 16 and runs a lot faster than you!

The best bit

Knowing that the class is 45 minutes and not an hour! I’m secretly one of those people who constantly looks at the clock and thinks to myself, “when is this going to end!” especially when I’m having a lazy day. Quite frankly I’m not sure I would last the full hour at that pace. My face would definitely be purple.

This is a tough class, be ready to sweat it out and give it your all! The class started off with a mixture of running, squats and kettlebell swings. After the warm-up we were separated into groups of 3, 5 stations were set up and we rotated through each one 4 times. The stations included a rowing machine, burpees with box jumps, running up and down 2 floors, squat jumps and kettlebell swing and lifts.

Difficulty level

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is an awesome workout! The atmosphere can be intimidating at first with all the super fit people around but they were really encouraging!

Think of this as two mini classes. After 20 minutes of cycling, you get the chance to switch it up and burn some more calories in a separate 25-minute session of HIT. As you race against your peers in the first half (yes there’s a performance metric system that shows you how well you’re doing); be sure to leave some fuel in the tank for circuit training afterwards as you will be using a combination of TRX, kettlebells, sandbags, and ViPR with strategic work/rest intervals to train your body from head to toe.

I’m usually already a bit tired after cycling so pushing through the next section requires a good second wind. Once you get through it though, you’ll realise it was all worth it in the end! It’s such an efficient workout it’s hard to believe it’s only 50 minutes!

The best bit

Challenging myself and doing my best to compete with those at the top of the scoreboard. Sometimes I like to set little goals for myself, like burn 200 calories (it doesn’t sound like much but it’s a lot for me in 20 minutes!). I have a bit of ADD too, so switching it up definitely makes the class more interesting!

Warm up and warm down aside, you will get a solid 30 minutes of Tabata in this 50-minute class. There are 6 rounds, with 8 sets of 20 seconds on, and 10 seconds rest in between. Expect to do LOTS of cardio – jumping jacks, tuck jumps, running, squat jumps, burpees, mountain climbers; along with push-ups, lunges, bear kicks and all sorts! It’s a very fast paced class and there are plenty of fun moves.

Dare I say the cardio part is slightly easier on a rebounder but note that the core exercises will be harder because the surface is unstable. Be sure to take those water breaks in between when you can and the number one rule is to stay hydrated!

The best bit

How could you not love bouncing up and down on a trampoline? This is a class you absolutely MUST try (and don’t forget to bring your grippy socks).

The difficulty factor lies with the weights you choose and how quickly you want to power through the exercises! Do as many sets of the 4 exercises as you can in the 8 minutes? I won’t lie here, I went at a nice leisurely pace.

The best bit

The huge variety of exercises at only 4 different stations! This workout really targets your entire body.

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The HK team review – Cardio, CrossFit & Circuit Training was last modified: February 14th, 2018 by Antonia Da Cruz